I am Cinderella. Or, I should say I am like Cinderella. We have something in common and that is I have an evil stepmother and two stepsisters. Well, my stepmother is only evil whenever my father is not in the house or worse, is out of the country. During the days when my father is in another country for our family business, my stepmother would always treat me like a servant. Do this and do that, she always says to me. I, Francesca Marquez Watson, was stupid enough to obey her. I don’t know why but I think it’s because of my father. He met her when my mom left us. They fell in love and she brought back his smile. My father also accepted her twin daughters. I only want him to be happy.

        My father said that I look like mom and he wished that she never left us. But the truth hurts, she left us without reason and she never showed up for almost 18 years. I grew up without a mother but I still enjoyed my childhood with only my father and my nannies. My father married my stepmother, Victoria, when I was 13 years old. I was happy that I’m going to have a new mother and two sisters. But I was wrong. Sometimes, I wanted to leave our house and go somewhere to live freely. I wished my prince charming will arrive and take me away to his castle. But I’m just an ordinary girl. I have long black hair, fair skin and plain brown eyes. My father says I’m beautiful but I know that I’m too ordinary.

        Everyday, I always say to myself that everything will be okay. There will come a time when someone special will care about me and love me unconditionally. I will never leave him like my mother did to my father.

        “Francesca! We’ve been calling you for like a hundred times,” my stepsister, Amelia, shouted at me. She’s standing beside the door of my room and I don’t know how long she’s been standing there.

        I realized that I’ve been staring at the mirror for too long and talking to myself. I immediately approached her. I noticed that her expression is not like the usual obey-me-or-else. She seems to be crying and her face is red.

        She stared at me and suddenly embraced me tightly. She cried out loud. I don’t know what is happening but my heart beats fast right now. It’s as if something had happened horribly.

        It hit me like a meteor. At first, I thought it is a joke. But she’s still crying in my arms. I know that he is not her real father but she still cared about him. She would never dare to joke like that.

        I can feel that my body is trembling. Suddenly, my eyes are already wet with my own tears.

        I don’t know what happened after that. It is like my mind is floating in space.

        I was sitting in the living room with my stepmother and my two stepsisters. Like me, they were all crying.

        My stepmother stood up and talked to us. “Your father died while inspecting one of the buildings that was under construction. A scaffold gave way and it hit him. They managed to bring him in the hospital and became conscious for three hours. He managed to talk to his lawyer about his last will and testament. After that, he became comatose and died. His lawyer will be here tomorrow.”

        This night is the worst in my life. I want to end this day but I know that tomorrow, my father will never come back. The one who really cared about me is dead. I wish that tomorrow, my prince charming will come for me and rescue me from this sadness.

        From the moment that I knew my father is dead, I was doomed. I felt like I’m already alone in this world.

        Today, his lawyer will read his last will and testament. I didn’t care about the money. I only wished that my father was not really dead.

        We were all sitting in the living room when the lawyer arrived. He gave condolences to us. He sat on a chair in front of us. He looked around the room as if he is looking for someone.

        “Is monsieur d’Artois not yet here?” he asked my stepmother.

        Suddenly, the door opened and our butler was accompanying three gorgeous men.